How Managers Can Successfully Handle a Remote Team

The remote work culture commenced during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the end of the traditional office setup. Hybrid work models where some employees work remotely and others work in a physical office are rapidly becoming the norm. In a hybrid work culture meetings play a crucial role in facilitating effective communication, collaboration, and alignment among team members. Business transcription companies play a key role in helping managers handle the communication and collaboration needs of a hybrid work culture.

Key Challenges of Managing a Remote Team

Team managers can face challenges managing communication among the team members, especially when they work in different geographic locations. Managing a remote team can be far more difficult than handling the in-office team. Here are three common challenges that managers face when managing a remote team:

• Coordinating schedules: Organizing meetings, training sessions, and other collaborative activities poses a challenge for a workforce spread across the globe. It’s unrealistic to assume that professionals will consistently attend meetings during early morning hours just because it suits your schedule. Even spontaneous interactions become challenging; if you reach out with a question to a team member in another time zone, you may not get a prompt response.

• Communication issues: Effective communication plays a key role in the success or failure of any team. In the context of distributed workforces, the method, frequency, and tone of communication become even more crucial. Numerous challenges stem from the use of virtual tools by remote teams. Emails may be overlooked or misinterpreted, and chat messages can easily get lost in the shuffle during busy periods, fading from memory as the day progresses. While miscommunication is a risk in traditional office setups as well, the reliance of remote teams on these tools significantly increases the likelihood and consequences of such occurrences.

• Coordinating tasks and projects: Coordinating jobs and projects becomes an even greater challenge when juggling schedules, diverse time zones, and varied responsibilities. Ensuring the satisfaction of every customer request can be daunting without a structured project management system in place. Allocating specific responsibilities for each project component enables team members to understand their roles in achieving the overarching objective. The role of project managers is pivotal in maintaining this coordination. Without effective organization, resources may be wasted, and project outcomes could face delays.

Tips for Managers to Handle their Remote Working Team

• Utilize a messaging app – Messaging apps are the best choice to replace phone calls, emails and other communication methods. These apps help the workers manage work-related communication effectively while focusing on their jobs. They can be used to conduct video conferencing and calls effectively, maintaining clarity. The main advantage of this mode of communication is that it is less interruptive and intrusive compared to traditional methods. They can also be used for alerting workers in real-time. You can share files without disrupting the workflow. Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Workplace, Cisco Webex Teams and Zoho Cliq are the top team chat apps in use today.

• Leverage efficient project management software – By implementing project management software, team managers can oversee workers in teams in multiple locations. It allows managers to organize, plan, and allocate resources. In addition to promoting teamwork, project management software enables managers to track project progress while specifying tasks and responsibilities. Top tools include Scoro, ProofHub, Basecamp, Workzone, Notion, and Trello.

The major advantages of using project management software are as follows:

• Promotes proper communication with your scattered team members
• Can keep track of the evolution of project
• Can keep track of productivity
• Helps to maintain and manage timesheets
• Can share information in real time
• Can conduct discussions
• Can efficiently manage tasks on task lists
• Can make interactions across time zones

• Listen to your team members – A good manager is a good listener and pay attention to team members’ ideas and suggestions. It is important to encourage your team to give their best without pressurizing them too much. In the remote working scenario, the team members may not be familiar with each other as they are working from different parts of the world. The team manager can erase these boundaries. Establishing connection with the team members and among them, can increase productivity.

• Encourage your team members to provide feedback – Feedback is important for a business to develop and meet the requirements of its customers. Encourage your team members to provide feedback once in a month or week, or after a remote meeting or conference. This feedback and suggestions can be used for implementing new remote working policies, and improve efficiency and comfort.

• Appreciate team members – Appreciation always encourages people to perform better. Though you and your team members are working remotely, it is important to appreciate your team members when they come up with new ideas or perform well. It also helps to improve the efficiency of your team members. You can try methods like mailing appreciation letters, sending flowers with an appreciation note, gift card, complimentary gifts and so forth. This would help to increase commitment on the part of team members and enhance productivity.

 
Other tips for handling your team members:

• Provide emotional support when needed
• Encourage creative members to explore their creative talents
• Be flexible and organized
• Build a strong relationship with your team
• Celebrate the team’s success virtually
• Give importance to the output than activity
• Encourage social interaction to develop healthy relationships

Handling employees who work from different geographical areas is much harder than handling a team in your physical office. Professional transcription services can ensure that the audio or video recordings of meetings are converted into accurate written transcripts. This ensures that all meeting discussions, decisions, and action items are captured in a clear and concise format. Transcripts provide a written record that can be easily referenced and shared among team members, regardless of their location or time zone.